Well, these past two years have been a long, strange trip. Whether our political climate has led you to become more active in our society’s affairs or make a difference in our local community, one thing is for certain: we all have many, many questions. So, no matter if you identify on the left, the right, or nowhere at all, some of us can’t help but wonder – what is life like on the other side? And, why do people make the choices they make?
Enter: Meet the Deplorables: Infiltrating Trump America, a book by journalist Harmon Leon and political cartoonist, Ted Rall. The team joined forces to answer the burning question: “Just what the hell exactly happened in 2016 and how did we get here?” As the duo goes deep undercover and journeys into the human psyche, the book is insightful, honest, raw, and eye-opening. There’s humor and some surprises. Quite a few individuals sport real-time “Make America Great Again” tattoos (yes, really) to Ted’s own personal run-in with Trump pre-political run (and features the best boss in history).
So, tonight at Pete’s Candy Store (709 Lorimer Street), you can hear it straight from the sources: real-time stories about Trump’s America. From going undercover at anti-Muslim meetings (they sure do love cookies) to pretend-praying in tongues at an American Horror Story-esque Hell House, there’s big takes from these weird-but-true experiences:
Given the constant deluge of disheartening headlines this year, we could all use a laugh, couldn’t we? Tara Jepsen, author of the newly released novel, Like a Dog (City Lights Publishers), plans to provide just that in conversation with Beth Lisick at WORD bookstore (126 Franklin St) today (December 5th) at 7pm.
“Even when we’re not living under a kleptocracy like we are now, my gift and what I always want to do is give people a soul-soothing moment,” Tara said. “I just hope to give people a little relief and make them laugh.”
Tara is an LA-based writer, actor, sketch comedian, and rad feminist skateboarder who has appeared on the Emmy-award winning series Transparent. She and Lisick have been collaborating on comedy projects together since 1999, including their original web series Rods and Cones, released by Jill Solloway on Wifey.tv, and their queer cabaret Sister Spit. Tara also, alongside Miriam Klein-Stahl, illustrator of the Rad Women book series, co-founded queer skateboard brand Pave the Way Skateboards. Despite years of writing short stories and comedy, Like a Dog is Tara’s debut novel.
“I thought since I was a little kid that I would be a novelist. When I was on tour with Sister Spit in the 90s I just started farting around and writing stories,” she said. “I’m a total fucking ham and always have been, so this just seemed like the natural evolution of what I’ve been doing.”
Perhaps the biggest gulf separating us as writers is Julia’s prodigious talent as an illustrator, which makes her book such a joy to read from beginning to end. (My drawings make my students either laugh in ridicule or cringe.) It is not just how she sketches, but what she draws that makes her book so close to my heart. She has done excellent renderings of many of the quirky places in New York that I love and teaches me things about those places I never knew. Continue reading →
November 11th will mark the ninety-ninth anniversary of the armistice that ended World War I. Even though America entered the conflict late, declaring war in April of 1917, the “Great War” had a profound impact locally. At least a hundred and twenty-three local men died in the conflict. In his fascinating book Greenpoint Doughboy, author Peter McHale describes the life and death of one of his great-uncle, John McKay, a graduate of St. Cecelia’s Parochial School who lived on Meeker Avenue and joined the famous New York Irish Regiment, “ The Fighting Sixty-Ninth.” McKay tragically became one of the more than 116,000 Americans who made the ultimate sacrifice. Continue reading →
If you have not heard of rapper, former chef and Viceland hostAction Bronson’s low culture cult following, you may soon be aware of his larger-than-life presence. Born in Queens and reportedly living in North Brooklyn, he has become an icon somewhat for his brazen rap stylings, but is probably more acclaimed for his self-proclaimed lyrical adoration of the pre-packaged foods most of us grew up with—chicken tenders, Starburst, Steak-umms; and his more complex and grown-up gourmet tastes—steak that’s aged for over 20 days, lamb that’s been roasted over 7 hours, stuffing filled with truffles and pears. As a chubby, foul-mouthed yet lovable character, he appeals to many: the shameless (those who would happily chow down on dirty water hotdogs), the detail-oriented (people who would source the best ingredients to create a very simple meal) and the fun-food-havers (regular people at a backyard BBQ where the smoker’s been going for hours, where homemade food and booze is abundant and anything goes). Continue reading →
This weekend, Greenpoint played host to the first ever Brooklyn Dirty Book Fair. The event, presented by MATTE Magazine, lasted all day Saturday and Sunday at Point Green Studio (260 Java St), and featured not only titillating books, zines and gifts for sale, but also cheeky performance art (including a cake sitting performance by Lindsay Dye), music and more.
Baste it, taste it and tweak it again. Showdown is a cookbook about feeding the conversation along with the person.
This week, we sat down with Greenpointer and self-described “meat-head” Jenn de la Vega to talk about how competing (and winning) local competitions sparked Showdown, the cookbook.
GP: Hey Jenn! Tell us about Showdown.
De la Vega: Showdown is a compilation of 100 recipes I’ve entered into competitions. It’s not only about the ones that won. I think the big part of the story is the failure and journey along the way, building a strange cooking career out of competition, creativity and personal challenges.
GP: Did you always want to be a chef?
Jenn breaks out into a big grin. De la Vega: Actually, I never had intentions of being a chef.Continue reading →
Author Geoff Cobb reads colorful tales of legendary Greenpoint politician, Peter McGuinness on Tuesday night at Shayz Lounge.
Last night, local historian, teacher, and author Geoffrey Cobb delighted a full house at Shayz Lounge (130 Franklin Street) with a selection of readings from his latest book, The King of Greenpoint. The book is about Peter J. McGuinness, the man for whom McGuinness Boulevard is named.
McGuinness was born on Eagle Street in 1888, and despite having no high school eduction and being a 300-pound lumber handler and blue collar laborer, managed to become one of the most influential politicians Greenpoint has ever seen.
Through pure charisma, lots of street smarts, and an ardent dedication to his everyday, working class constituents, McGuinness was able to get elected as an alderman in 1919, thus beginning a long and rich political career. Continue reading →
Want some Summer reading about our neighborhood? Here’s a list of books related to Greenpoint. People ask me how I researched my account of local history Greenpoint Brooklyn’s Forgotten Past. The answer partially is that I read the books in the list below.
1) Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia, Joe Pistone The amazing story of how an Italian American F.B.I agent got into the Greenpoint Mafia, risking his life, but also taking down more than a hundred mobsters.
2) Historic Greenpoint, William Felter The first book on local history, Felter published his remarkable book about a century ago. It tells the area’s history, but omits the dark chapters of Greenpoint’s Past—well worth a read though. And since it’s out of copyright, it’s free to download. Continue reading →
Welcome to a new Greenpointers food series called A Taste for Books. We’ll be taking a page from the monthly cookbook club and potluck hosted by our Greenpoint neighbors, Archestratus (visit them at 160 Huron Street), featuring a different cookbook each month paired with insights from the monthly discussion. Thanks for joining us on this adventure that will highlight scrumptious recipes, dissect interesting ingredients and generally recap what happens when you mix cooks with books in Greenpoint.
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